


Thus the Fairy Tale Begins

by Bazylia_de_Grean



Series: Light, Smoke and Mirrors [2]
Category: Dark Tower - Stephen King
Genre: F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-05
Updated: 2017-09-05
Packaged: 2018-12-24 03:03:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 557
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12003633
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bazylia_de_Grean/pseuds/Bazylia_de_Grean
Summary: Steven is patient and considerate, more than she was expecting him to be. Gives her time to study her own reactions and gives her space whenever she hesitates. Gilead needs an heir, but they will have plenty of time for that, he says, and belatedly she understands he’s meant that as a jest. So she laughs, because it’s expected of her, but also because she was not expecting the somber lord of Gilead to have a sense of humor.





	Thus the Fairy Tale Begins

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Star_Miya](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Star_Miya/gifts).



Steven is patient and considerate, more than she was expecting him to be. Gives her time to study her own reactions and gives her space whenever she hesitates. Gilead needs an heir, but they will have plenty of time for that, he says, and belatedly she understands he’s meant that as a jest. So she laughs, because it’s expected of her, but also because she was not expecting the somber lord of Gilead to have a sense of humor.

It’s not unpleasant, overall. And she’s curious, and he’s… perhaps not very handsome, and there’s something like a cloud over his mind, always, but she finds that interesting. What young girl haven’t dreamt of a mysterious, brooding gunslinger at some point? Gabrielle has, too. Reality does not live up to the dream – it rarely does – but it’s enough.

And yet, and yet… He is her first. And when they’re falling asleep together, tangled in the sheets, she cannot help but think that his first woman has probably been a whore. Gabrielle tries to be reasonable – isn’t that better than if he’d left a dishonored woman behind him somewhere, isn’t it good that at least one of them knew what to do and wasn’t awkward about it? – but it doesn’t sit well with her.

* * *

 

Her husband is polite and kind, even if distanced and self-contained most of the time, but he tries, she has to give him that. He’s always polite and kind, and she knows she should be glad… But, despite that reasonable streak – some would call it bitterness – sometimes she’s dared to hope for love. Or passion, at least.

And perhaps Steven is a passionate man, but he keeps it all bottled up. He respects his wife and tends to her comfort, and she does the same for him… But Gabrielle can’t help thinking life should have more to offer, marriage should have more to offer.

But then she finds out she’s with child, and immediately there are plans and dreams, and of course Steven is concerned… There’s a softer look in his eyes whenever he glances at her, and he’s never been quite as tender as he is now, guessing her every wish before she even opens her mouth to ask, tries to fill the castle with color and laughter… And despite the morning sickness and despite the pain of childbirth, those are the most beautiful months of Gabrielle’s life. Something out a fairy tale.

Most fairy tales she knows don’t end well.

* * *

 

She looks into her son’s eyes for the first time, and she forgets everything else. Gabrielle is seventeen and thinks that she will always be happy as long as she has her son at her side.

Steven strokes their son’s head, his face twisted as if in pain – but she recognizes the feeling, so overwhelming it’s hard to believe a single person can contain it. He loves his infant son more than he will ever love her – but perhaps that’s how it should be, Gabrielle thinks. Perhaps that’s the way to her husband’s heart, through their child.

And then he leans in to kiss her cheek, and calls her the lady of light, and when their eyes meet, she is stunned. Because for the first time, Gabrielle thinks she could fall in love with this man one day. If he only lets her.


End file.
